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I. John B. Cassoday, by E. Ray Stevens 
IL Julius Taylor Clark, by Ebsha Williams Ke\ 

III. Nils Otto Tank, by Hjalmar Rued Holand 

IV. William Freeman Vilas, by Burr W. Jones 



\'CS 



[From the Proceedings of the State Historical Society ol 
Wisconsin, for 1908, pages 136-164] 



Madison 

Published by the Society 

1909 



-• -j 



I. John B. Cassoday, by E. Ray Stevens 
II. Julius Taylor Clark, by Elisha Williams Keyes 

III. Nils Otto Tank, by Hjalmar Rued Holand 

IV. William Freeman Vilas, by Burr W. Jones 



[From the Proceedings of the State Historical Society of 
Wisconsin, for 1908, pages 136-164] 



Madison 

Published by the Society 

1909 



^5^^ 

3^^ 



John B. Cassoday 



By E. Ray Stevens 

Chief Justice Cassoday began the practice of law among the 
lawyers and judges who were actively engaged in work at the 
bar when Wisconsin's code of laws and system of jurisprudence 
were established. Few men that shared' with him the labors of 
administering the law while he was at the bar, survive him. 
No member of the present supreme bench, and few men, law- 
yers or laymen, can say, as he did, that Justice Crawford, who 
was a member of the supreme court from 1853 to 1855, "is the 
only member of this court with whom I never had any personal 
acquaintance."^ 

For fifty years Justice Cassoday took an active part in shap- 
ing the destinies of his adopted state, to which he came as a 
young man of twenty-seven, ready to seek admission to the bar. 
He came to Wisconsin but nine years after it was admitted to 
the Union ; visited Madison at the close of the third commence- 
ment at the State University ; journeyed northward by stage as 
far as Baraboo, in search of a location ; was admitted to the bar 
at Janesville July 18, 1857, and began to practice in that city at 
the time when the problems of slavery and secession engrossed 
the attention of thinking men. 

As he was ever a pleasing and effective speaker, he' was much 
in demand on public occasions. During the times of secession 
and reconstruction, no campaign passed that did not find him 
doing the good citizen's duty at the caucus, in the convention, 
and on the stump. 

In these stirring times he was one of the trusted' counselors 
of his party. He was a delegate to the national convention 
that nominated Lincoln in 1864. In 1879 he' presided over the 



' 123 Wis. xxxiv. 




John B. Cassoday 



John B. Cassoday 



Eepublican state convention. In the national convention of 
1880, it was the announcement, made by him as chairman of the 
Wisconsin delegation, in voice clear as bugle note, that "Wis- 
consin casts two votes for General Grant, two votes for James 
G. Blaine, and twenty votes for General James A. Garfield" 
that electrified the convention, broke the deadlock, and led to 
the nomination of President Garfield. 

During these years Justice Cassoday 's name was urged for 
such offices as that of attorney-general and governor, member 
of Congress, and United States senator. He was also suggested 
as the successor of Judge Hopkins on the federal bench, at the 
time of Judge Romanzo Bunn's appointment. But with the 
exception of two terms in the assembly, he never permitted 
himself to be drawn away from his law practice by becoming a 
candidate for office. He sat as a member of the last assembly 
that met during the War of Secession, and was speaker of the 
assembly that convened January 10, 1877, which under his 
guidance completed its work and adjourned on March 8. For 
the information of those who have known recent legislatures, 
it ought to be added that it was March 8 of the same year. 

It will aid us in appreciating the changes that have taken 
place in Wisconsin during the life of Justice Cassoday, to re- 
call that it was during his service as member of the assembly 
of 1865 that the legislature memorialized Congress for a daily 
overland mail route from Green Bay northward to Marinette^ 
where the sawmills and the lumbering interests require "in- 
creased mail facilities." During this same session the legisla- 
ture urged Congress to introduce "the new railway distributing 
postoffice system," because under the system then in use "a 
delay of twelve hours and upwards is necessarily incurred at 
the Chicago office" in the transmission of a letter from Wiscon- 
sin to the East. 

To Justice Cassoday a public office was a public trust to be 
administered for the public good. When he was elected speaker, 
the powers that controlled the Republican party in the State de- 
termined that Mr. James G. Flanders of Milwaukee, a member 
of the assembly, should be punished for deserting the Repub- 
licans and joining the ranks of the Democracy in the recent 
campaign. They demanded of the speaker that Mr. Flanders 
be kept off the judiciary committee. But they made their de- 

[137] 



Wisconsin Historical Society 

mands in vain. Speaker Cassoday, recognizing that Mr. Flan- 
ders could thus best serve the State, made him a member of that 
important committee. 

Chief Justice Cassoday rendered his greatest service to the 
State after his appointment to the supreme bench on November 
11, 1880. Of all Avho have been justices of that court, Chief 
Justice Cole alone served for a longer period of time. In view 
of the constantly increasing volume of work before the court, 
it may well be doubted whether Chief Justice Cole participated 
in the decision of as many cases during his thirty-seven years 
of service as did Justice Cassoday in his twenty-seven. Eighty- 
four of the one hundred and thirty-three volumes of the pub- 
lished reports of the supreme court contain opinions written by 
Justice Cassoday. 

One who does not know the character of service performed' 
by the justices of the supreme court will never appreciate the 
protracted confinement and seclusion, the patient, severe, and 
continued study and investigation which he devoted to the cases 
submitted to the court for determination. When he entered 
upon the work he was fifty years of age. He never had been 
a man of the most robust health. But so carefully did he hus- 
band his physical strength that it was not until he had devoted 
a quarter of a century to this most exacting labor that his 
physical strength began in any way to limit his mental achieve- 
ments; and then the end came, on December 30, 1907. while he 
was engaged in the labor to which he had devoted himself with 
a zeal akin to that of a religious zealot. 

Upon his appointment to the bench he gave up active par- 
ticipation in affairs outside the court-room; his church, this 
State Historical Society, and the State University standing al- 
most alone as exceptions to this rule of conduct. From 1876 
to 1880. and again from 1885 to 1899, he lectured in the law 
school of the State University, upon wills and constitutional 
law. He was a regent of the University from 1877 to 1880. 

He was a member of the legislature that directed' that the 
second story of the south wing of the capitol building be pre- 
pared for the use of this Society. For nearly twenty years he 
served us as curator. In December, 1896, he was elected' a vice- 
president, to succeed General Fairchild. He frequently served 
on important committees, gave liberally to the library, and, 

[ 138 ] 



John B. Casscnday 



whenever the needs of the Society required, gave it financial 
support. 

He prepared several scholarly discussions of topics of special 
interest to his profession, as well as a legal text book on Wills. 
But it is the opinions written by him during the years devoted 
to the work of the supreme court, that must ever stand as his 
most enduring memorial. Time does not permit any discussion 
of the many important decisions written by him. 

Industry and integrity were the comer-stones of his charac- 
ter. He was left fatherless and well-nigh penniless at the early 
age of three ; so that from necessity, as weU as from habit, labor 
was the watchword of his life. As a lawyer he was never sat- 
isfied until he had accumulated all the facts and all the law 
that would throw light on the case in hand. As a judge he 
continued the same laborious search. To him there was a sa^ 
credness about judicial decisiocis. He respected the precedents 
found in the adjudicated cases, and depended upon them more 
than upon philosophical consideration of the law involved in 
the case which he had under consideration. 

He was fundamentally kind and considerate in all the rela- 
tionships of life. He possessed that rare combination of a gen- 
tle dignity befitting his high office, and a kindliness that made 
every one who knew him his friend. His long career in the 
supreme court of which he was chief justice from July 4, 1895, 
placed him in a position where by precept and by example he 
could exert great influence upon the bar of the State. His 
spotless private life, his rectitude of personal conduct, his am- 
bition justly and conscientiously to fulfil the duties of his high 
office, his ideals of professional ethics and conduct, have all 
been potent factors in maintaining a high standard of the legal 
profession in this State. The younger generation of lawyers, 
especially, have been guided by his example and inspired by his 
kindly interest in them. The power of the courts is measured, 
as by the foot rule, by the faith which the people have in their 
justice and integrity. No judge ever did' more to inspire con- 
fidence in the courts. Had he written with the pen of a Mar- 
shall or of a Ryan, he would not have performed a higher serv- 
ice. 



10 [ 139 ] 



Wisconsin Historical Society 



Julius Taylor Clark 



By Elisha Williams Keyes 

The fourth decade of the nineteenth century was an important 
epoch in the history of Madison and the Territory of Wisconsin. 
The fame of the new territory (erected in 1836) and its future 
possibilities were well-known throughout the Union. Madison, 
its new capital, like a gem set in the crown of the boundless 
West, had extended far and wide its reputation for beauty and 
attractiveness. This little village, soon to become the capital 
of a great commonwealth, held out great opportunities for eager, 
ardent young men from Eastern and other states of the Union, 
who had been quietly watching this shining star in the Western 
firmament. Among those who made quick response to the 
summons was the subject of this sketch — the late Julius Taylor 
Clark. 

He and other pioneers of like ability were empire builders. 
They were men of high character and patriotism, ambitious to 
identify themselves with the growth and development of the 
great West. Not one of the new territories, at that period, 
gathered within its borders pioneers superior or equal to those 
who first gave energy and life to the founding of Wisconsin. 

Julius Taylor Clark was born August 3, 1814, at Isle La Mott, 
Vermont. When but six years of age his parents removed to 
New York State, where young Clark grew to manhood and was 
a graduate in 1837 of Union College at Schenectady. Mean- 
while his father's family had removed (1833) to Ottawa, Il- 
linois, where the young student followed them and began the 
study of law. April 9, 1839, he was admitted to the bar of the 
supreme court of Illinois, and on May 25 following he was ap- 
pointed by Judge Ford of the ninth judicial circuit of that 
state, clerk in chancery for La Salle County. The next year he 
removed' to Madison. 

[140] 




Julius Taylor Clark 



Julius T. Clark 

"When, accompanied by his father's family, Julius Clark set- 
tled in Madison in August, 1840, but tew men possessing his 
abilities and his spirit of adventure had preceded him. He had 
found, however, what he sought; and delighted with the wild- 
ness of the place he made up his mind to make it his residence 
and take his chances in its development. Thus he became 
prominently identified with the growth and prosperity of Madi- 
son. Soon after his arrival he formed a law partnership with 
the late William N. Seymour, and later entered the law firm of 
Catlin, Abbott, and Clark. From that time on, during his 
residence here, he was actively engaged in the practice of his 
profession. 

"When I came to Madison to study law in the year 1850, Mr. 
Clark had been a lawyer here, in good practice, for about ten 
years. "While he had evidently determined that that profession 
should be his life-work, he did not shirk the performance of 
other duties, for which he was so eminently fitted, and turned 
aside from his law practice to encourage the development of 
our educational system. His own thorough education caused 
his advice on these matters to be sought and followed to a large 
extent. 

The organization of the State University was one of the first 
tasks to which the newly-created State of Wisconsin turned' its 
attention. Mr. Clark was a member of the first board of regents, 
being appointed September 6, 1848, by Gov. Nelson Dewey; 
and on October 7, 1848, at the first meeting of the' board, he was 
elected its secretary, serving as such until 1856. At this first 
meeting the selection of the site of the university was made, and 
building operations authorized. Mr. Clark was largely instru- 
mental in securing the beautiful location of this institution, and 
contributed of his wisdom and foresight to its organization. He 
also rendered further service in the interests of our educational 
system. February 25, 1858, he was appointed by Gov. A. W. 
Randall a member of the board of regents of normal schools of 
the State, and on April 5, 1862, was reappointed by Gov. L. P. 
Harvey; being chosen for a third term February 14, 1865, by 
'Gov. James T. Lewis. 

His services in the early days of the' State Historical Society 
were of much value. Soon after the' reorganization of 1854 
Clark was chosen curator, and served as such from 1855-57 and 

[141] 



Wisconsin Historical Society 

1861-63 ; during his first incumbency he' was a member of the ex- 
ecutive committee, and aided in auditing the Society's accounts. 
He was also a donor to the Library; and in 1862 contributed 
an article on the Chippewa chief, Hole-in-the-Day, which is pub- 
lished in volume v of the Collections. 

Mr. Clark's public services were not entirely confined to edu- 
cational and literary institutions. Soon after his arrival here, 
that is in December, 1841, he was appointed by Governor Doty, 
auditor of public accounts for Wisconsin Territory for the term 
of three years. July 6, 1843, he was given the office of educa- 
tional agent among the Chippewa nation of Indians, the tribe 
then being located mainly in northern Wisconsin, to hold such 
office during the pleasure of the President. In the fulfilment 
of this duty he left Madison in August of that year, and pro- 
ceeded to La Pointe on Lake Superior, by way of Milwaukee, 
Mackinac, and Sault Ste. Marie. He arrived at his destination 
in time to see the autumn gathering of the tribesmen as they 
came in to the agency for their annuities. Alfred Brunson of 
Prairie du Chien was Indian agent there at this time, and with 
him were Bishop Baraga and Sherman Hall, missionaries at 
this place. Clark studied the language and customs of these 
Northern tribesmen. He' appears to have made a long inland 
journey by sledge or traineau to the Leech Lake band of the 
Chippewa, on Sandy Lake. These experiences were embodied 
upon his return to Madison (1845) in a long poem known as 
''The Ojibue Conquest." This the author lent to a civilized 
Indian, to aid him in securing funds. It was finally published 
by the original writer in 1898. It is a long narrative of the 
Sioux- Chippewa enmity and warfare, interwoven with a love 
story, and shows considerable knowledge of Indian customs and 
traditions. 

In addition to public services to education and administra- 
tion, Julius Clark was especially interested in all matters af- 
fecting the toM^n of Madison. This place was organized as a 
village in 1850 and Mr. Clark was the first village clerk. Later 
he was elected one of the trustees, thus becoming identified with 
the first village organization. In 1857, after the chartering of 
the city, he was chosen alderman, but retired before' having 
completed his term. As early as 1846 Mr. Clark became the 
possessor of blocks 94 and 95, which now constitute the residence 

[142] 



Julius T. Clark 

property of the late Col. William F. Vilas. At tliat time 
Madison was a wild spot, unsettled' and unimproved, and these 
lots were, as he once said, "a, wilderness grown heavily with 
large trees and underbrush." He made the first improvements 
on that side of the village, really the first made on the north- 
west side of the capitol park. He built a fair-sized frame 
house, and thei-e are those living in Madison today who remem- 
ber the appearance it made to the onlookers, nestling as it did 
in the midst of a forest. In 1859 he constructed, on the same 
spot, what at that time was considered a very fine" brick resi- 
dence, which he occupied until his removal from the city. Mr. 
Clark early appreciated the natural beauty of this fine location, 
the finest in Madison today, although in its native wildness it 
was overlooked, and he was the first to make an effort to secure 
it. In later years his taste and judgment have been fully 
verified by the consensus of opinion that this location is one of 
the most beautiful residence sites in Madison. 

Not long after his return from the Indian country, Mr. 
Clark married (1846) at Madison, Palmyra Cornell, who died 
in 1853. She left two sons, the elder of whom, Julius Scott, 
still lives in Topeka, Kansas. The following year Juliet Mil- 
lard of Dubuque, Iowa, came to share the Madison home, and 
having removed West with her husband lived until 1899. Of 
her children one son died in 1903 in Idaho; Mrs. Louis Henry 
Wolff, a daughter, lives in Indianapolis; while with Mrs. J. W. 
F. Hughes, the other daughter. Judge Clark made his home 
in his declining years. 

His residence in Madison extended over a period of twenty- 
five years, and during all this time he was a very busy man. 
While his law business really required his undivided attention, 
his great interest in questions which concerned the growth of 
the Territory and State induced him to devote much time to 
those matters. While not pronouncedly active in politics, his 
sympathies were largely with the Whig party and later with the 
Republicans. Some time in the decade of the fifties, he assisted 
in editorial work on the newspaper representing those principles 
— the Madison Express. 

It was with great regret that Mr. Clark felt that his health 
and his interests required him to seek a new location, and per- 
haps a wider field for the practice of his profession than that 

[143] 



Wisconsin Historical Society 

which Madison afforded at that time. Therefore in 1866 he re- 
moved to the new state of Kansas which, since his residence 
there, has progressed in a wonderful degree, and become one of 
the greatest commonwealths in the then distant West. 

In Kansas, Clark settled first at Burlingame, where he bought 
land and planned some manufacturing enterprises. After some- 
thing more than a year's residence in this place, his attention 
was attracted by the prospects of Topeka, and he removed 
(1868) to that place, where he spent the remainder of his life. 
But little time and attention was devoted by Clark to profes- 
sional life after removing to Kansas. At Topeka he built a 
gas plant, of which he was active manager until 1895. He was 
in Kansas, as he had been in "Wisconsin, closely identified with 
educational and philanthropic interests. Presbyterian colleges, 
both in Kansas and Missouri, benefited by his liberality. The 
local church and charities were fostered by his care. During 
the autumn of his life he was occupied in philanthropic and 
literary labors, publishing two small volumes of verse. The 
former contained, in addition to the Indian poem already noted, 
religious poems, translations of Latin hymns, and Latin render- 
ings of well-known English hymns. The second volume, pri- 
vately published in 1902, is known as Horae Senectae, and 
reveals a calm and peaceful mind full of faith in the unseen 
future. Death occurred at Topeka, May 23, 1908. 

In my first acquaintance with Mr. Clark I was not impressed 
with the idea that he possessed a strong physical constitution. 
Nevertheless, he was constantly at work, never idle, pursuing 
the even tenor of his way, in the conduct of his own business, 
with plenty of time and thought for the conservation of public 
interests. I cannot think of anyone who contributed more to 
the advancement of popular education than did Mr. Clark. 

"When he left Madison, he carried with him to the new state 
of his residence the same disposition and determination to ac- 
complish something for the public good. Seventy years of his 
long and useful life were spent in the capitals of two great 
states of the "West, where he left a strong impress of his high 
character and great usefulness. The record which he made in 
Wisconsin, his association with the early growth of Madison, and 
his close identification with all matters springing from this 
centre for the benefit of the State, was most important. 

[144] 



Julius T. Clark 

To sum up his life-work, it may be said that he was an honest 
and unselfish man; that while engaged in the practice of his 
profession he still had time to devote to the cause of the public 
good; and that he accomplished much in whatever direction his 
talents and energies were devoted. I can say most truthfully 
that no man ever went out from our midst who left behind him 
a better record of labor and devotion to all which conserved the 
best interests of our city ; and notwithstanding over forty years 
have elapsed since he removed from us — nearly half his life 
time — there are still a few yet living here who cherish a remem- 
brance of the many virtues he possessed, and his disposition to 
do good to aU as he had opportunity. 



[145] 



Wisconsin Historical Society 



Nils Otto Tank 



By Hjalmar Rued Holand 

The Norwegian immigration to America began in 1825, but 
until the later thirties did not assume' any significant propor- 
tions. By 1850 there were in America about 16,000 Norwegians 
of the first and second generations. The majority of these were 
scattered in a half dozen settlements in the extreme southern 
part of Wisconsin, 

In Milwaukee, there was a transient population of about 300 
of this nationality. One of the first of these to make a perma- 
nent residence in the city was a pious Moravian by the name of 
Olson. He was a pleasing singer and an ardent evangelist, and 
as there were no regular local Lutheran services in the mother 
tongue, he had many followers. By 1849 he had gained so many 
proselytes that he wrote to the headquarters in Norway for an 
ordained minister to take charge of the work. A. M. Iverson, a 
young student, was sent at once, and he was ordained in Bethle- 
hem, Pennsylvania, in the spring of 1850. He was the first 
Moravian minister in the West. 

At that time there were very hard times in Milwaukee', little 
work and poor pay. The city was likewise turbulent and vi- 
cious. Accordingly, the little Moravian colony was anxious to 
move out of the town, both to secure a safer living by agricul- 
ture and to save their children from being contaminated by the 
wickedness that surrounded them. As they were all poor, they 
appealed to the headquarters in Norway, stating their humble 
circumstances and great distress, and' asking for assistance, 
either by gift or loan. Again were their wants attended to. In 
reply, came a man of much wealth and' great charity. Nils Otto 
Tank, one of the most remarkable Norwegians who has taken up 
his home in this country. 

.[146] 




Nils Otto Tank 



Nils Otto Tank 

A short distance from the busy city of Frederikshald, in one 
of the most charming parts of picturesque Norway, lies the great 
estate of Rod, for many generations the patrimony of the Tank 
family. Its far-reaching, fertile fields, tilled by scores of in- 
dustrious tenants, bear witness of its wealth. The spacious 
parks and ancient game preserves tell of its pleasures. The 
dignified manor house, filled with treasures garnered through 
centuries, speaks of its luxuries. In the centre of the park is 
the family cemetery, where lies many a noble statesman and 
valiant soldier; and close by are three gigantic mounds wheref 
rest the remains of their favorite riding horses, on whose backs, 
in the ancient days of sport and pleasure they dearly loved to 
roam the rolling uplands. 

Here in the year 1800, was born Nils Otto, the last son of the 
house of Tank. The Tank family always claimed to belong to 
the nobility, and generally were looked upon as belonging to 
such, although this is not substantiated by history. The founda- 
tion for this claim lies in the report that in the war times of 
1660, the first Tank fitted out some' war vessels at his own ex- 
pense, and lent his sovereign signal service. For this, King 
Frederik III publicly gave him Dank (thanks), and said' that 
this (i. e., Dank) should hereafter be his name. 

Be that as it may, Carsten Tank, the father of Nils Otto, was 
more than a noble ; for he was the prime minister of King Chris- 
tian Frederik in 1814, Norway's most momentous year of his- 
tory. In those volcanic times of Napoleon, when one ancient 
throne after another tottered and fell, Carsten Tank had navi- 
gated the heaving sea of politics with consummate skill. It is 
rumored that he lent a hand in dethroning Gustav IV. He had 
seen Norway pass from Denmark to Sweden. In the front rank 
of his countrymen he had' refused to acknowledge such chattel 
transfer, and had joined in declaring Norway free and inde- 
pendent. He had been called by Norway 's first king to take the 
helm of the ship of state, as prime minister. Being the first to 
understand the inefficiency of this monarch, he had sacrificed 
his allegiance to his king for that to his country, and was the 
chief man in calling together the Convention of Moss, whereby 
King Frederik was deposed and" Norway entered into her long- 
continued personal union with Sweden, under one Idnsr. 

[147] . 



Wisconsin Historical Society 

In all this, Carsten Tank had served his country ably and 
faithfully, but now his personal ambitions begin to play the up- 
per hand. By this union with Sweden, King Karl XIII became 
King of Norway. King Karl was old and childless. Upon his 
death who would take the reins? The resolute Tank despised' 
the feeble sons of decaying dynasties. A sturdy chief of hia 
own soil was what this country needed. Why then, he reasoned, 
should not his own promising son come into consideration? He 
was the scion of proud lords, had a royal bearing, possessed great 
learning and abilities, and his father was a controlling force. In 
those troublous times, with their schemes and' cabals, when kings 
forthwith were deposed and commonwealths traded like horses, 
this was no impossible ambition. Strong hands and crafty 
plans, and a wedding with a princess of some royal house, would 
accomplish the end. Nils Otto was sounded, and the ardent 
young cavalier entered with enthusiasm into the plans. Once 
more he was sent abroad', in the hope that intercourse with the 
best society of Europe would gain the last smooth finish to his 
already considerable culture. 

Matters developed most promisingly. After a protracted stay 
at foreign courts and universities. Nils Otto had acquired a most 
faultless bearing and extensive accomplishments, and was about 
to start home to play his part in the intrigues of the court. 
Then it happened that far up in the mountains of Saxony, in 
the little town of Herrnhut, he looked into the deep, serious, 
soulful eyes of Marian Frueauff, daughter of a clergyman among 
the pietistic brethren who inhabit that place. Like a sudden 
awakening from a dream, his vision changed. Forgotten were 
his father's worldly injunctions, the dream of royalty, the pomp 
and power of court, and worldly honors and ambitions. His 
love was unconquerable, and in a few weeks he journeyed home 
with his bride. 

But his father, the iron-willed old statesman, had forgotten all 
about love and romance. His dreams of founding a dynasty 
were dissipated' by the amours of his son, and lost was his sweet- 
ness of life. With scornful upbraidings he gave his son the 
choice' of rejecting his plebeian wife or being himself an outcast.^ 



* The foregoing narrative of court intrigues is naturally not a matter 
of historical record, but is the substance of chance confidences, dropped 
In the intimacy of family fellowship, and communicated to the ■writer. 

[ 148 ] 



Nils Otto Tank 

But this was more than a passing infatuation with Nils Otto. 
He not only acknowledged his wife, but, persuaded by her gentle 
influence, he also acknowledged his conversion to the simple 
Moravian faith. Thereupon he entered a long term of work for 
that cause, first as teacher, and later as missionary to the slaves 
of Surinam (or Dutch Guiana). Henceforth, for many years 
we see Otto Tank, who had been reared amid the hon-mots of 
brilliant salons, humbly and patiently teaching the gospel of 
salvation to tawny heathen in distant tropics. 

During his student years, young Tank had been much inter- 
ested' in mineralogy, showing considerable promise in his re- 
searches in this field. In far-away Surinam this scientific 
knowledge played him a good part, for he discovered the exten- 
sive gold fields that later made Guiana famous. But the wealth 
he appears to have gained by this discovery was of little comfort 
to him, for the deadly climate was too much for his wife, whose 
remains are buried there. Desolate, and hungering for inter- 
course with men of his kind, he finally took his four-year-old 
daughter, Marian, and in 1847 left for Europe. 

Tank now lingered for some time in Holland, where at Am- 
sterdam he made the acquaintance of a distinguished clergyman 
and scholar, the Eev. J. R. Van der Meulen. He was the de- 
scendant of a long line of prosperous art collectors and biblio- 
philes. Van der Meulen 's house was filled with a wonderful 
collection of antique furniture of most artistic workmanship, 
choice plate and paintings, rare bric-a-brac, and thousands of 
volumes of ancient books and manuscripts of inestimable value. 
Considerable wealth had also come to him through his wife, for- 
merly chief lady-in-waiting at the court of Holland, and daugh- 
ter of the famous General Baron von Botzelaar, who, in 1797, 
had repulsed Napoleon at Willemstadt. For this service the 
baron was munificently rewarded by the crown. In Catherine, 
the daughter of this family. Tank found a congenial companion, 
and she became his wife in 1849, shortly after her father's 
death. Thus all these Dutch treasures became a part of the 
Tank household. 

Soon after Tank's return to Norway in 1849, there came to 
his notice the humble appeal from his poor countrymen and 
brethren in the American Middle "West. In this petition for help 
he saw the finger of Providence indicating the field for the use 

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of his abilities and means, and hastened to obey. He came to 
Milwaukee in the spring of 1850, and it is reported that he 
brought with him $1,500,000. After looking over the State, he 
purchased 969 acres of fertile timber land on the west bank of 
Fox River. This tract, still known as "Tanktown," now com- 
prises the eighth ward of the city of Green Bay. Hither he 
invited the Moravian colony of Milwaukee to come and settle, 
and promised free lands to all. The offer was received with joy 
by his countrymen, and in August, 1850, the whole colony 
moved to the new settlement — some twenty-five families in all, 
including Pastor A. M. Iverson. 

Tank's first work was to lay out a number of lots on both 
sides of what is now State Street. Surrounding these, larger 
(ten acre) lots were laid out. These building sites were then, 
according to Moravian custom, apportioned among the colonists 
by lot. The farm lands surrounding the village site were later 
to be surveyed. A park covering about two acres was also laid' 
out on the bank of the river; this was to be the site for the 
church. Meanwhile, the north room of Tank's cottage was con- 
secrated as a place of public worship. The congregation, to- 
gether with the village, received the name of Ephraim ; that is, 
"the very fruitful." 

Being himself a man of education, Tank appreciated the im- 
portance of schools, and proceeded at once to erect a commodious 
two-story schoolhouse. This was intended to be an academy for 
arriving Norwegians, and in the first year (1851) was attended 
by five young men. This was the first Norwegian school in 
America. 

The founder entered into his communistic plans with enthus- 
iasm. He meditated on them as he walked through the serene 
silence of the woods, and pondered on their ultimate develop- 
ment as he sat on the banks of the peaceful Fox. He thought 
of his extensive travels in many lands, of his father's royal 
dreams, of his long service as missionary in tropic Suri- 
nam, and felt that here in the primeval wilderness of a new con- 
tinent the Lord had shown him his true field of work. 

Perhaps he was to be permitted in some slight measure to 
emulate the shining example of that great man of God, Count 
Zinzendorf, who had founded a religious community, and whose 
influence had gone to the outermost parts of the earth. His 

[150] 




Eod Herreo^aard, Frederikshald 

Ancestral home of Nils Otto Tank 




Tank Cottage, Green Bay, in 1906 



Nils Otto Tank 

countrymen were every year coming by the thousands to Amer- 
ica, destitute and friendless; he would help them out of the 
bounty with which the Lord had blessed him. There was no 
established church to minister to their spiritual wants; in his 
community they should find a well-ordered service and sanctuary. 
Their children needed education and religious training; in his 
schools they should be amply provided. 

In imagination he saw the timbered solitudes give way to well- 
tilled, sunnj'- fields; thrifty villages, noisy with the laughter of 
romping children; busy factories filled with contented work- 
ingmen. He seemed' to hear the full-toned hymns of praise 
from crowded churches, and saw devout young men in his Bible 
school studying the word of God, preparatory to a missionary 
life. As plan and prospect opened before him, it seemed to him 
vastly greater to be the steward of God for the relief and help 
of the needy in a far-away land, than to be the envied and un- 
easy head of a petty temporal principality. 

But as a fair vessel, with every sail bent for a quick and' suc- 
cessful voyage, is sometimes suddenly overturned by the wind 
that was to waft it onward, so Tank's noble plan was frustrated 
by an unexpected agency. Pastor Iverson was an honest and 
well-meaning man ; but because of wide temperamental differ- 
ences he failed utterly to comprehend Tank 's character and aims. 
Furthermore, being of an excitable and imperious temperament, 
Iverson was irritated at occupying a secondary place in the col- 
ony. 

He personally confessed to the writer, that he could not under- 
stand what a man of Tank's wealth and opportunities really 
meant by settling in this wilderness, and suspected him of schem- 
ing to enrich himself by introducing the obnoxious tenant sys- 
tem of Norway. He therefore demanded that Tank deed the 
balance of the lands to the settlers. Under the existing condi- 
tions, this was partly impossible and partly contrary to Tank's 
plans. 

Iverson, feeling his responsibility as shepherd of the flock, 
thereupon fomented' distrust among the communists, and urged 
them to withdraw. Tank disdained to go about justifying him- 
self. The result was, that about all the colonists decided to go 
with Iverson to the northern part of Door County, where great 
profits were held out to them in fishing. Iverson not only took 

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away with him the colony, but also its plans and even its name. 
Ephraim, in Door County, is now the centre of extensive Nor- 
wegian settlements numbering several thousand people. 

One day in May, 1853, a vessel tied up at the dock in front 
of the Tank cottage, to convey the colonists to their future home. 
The day was radiant with the promise of spring, but it was the 
darkest day in Tank's life. He saw the deluded emigrants hurry 
down to the vessel with their few earthly possessions. Their 
children carried their simple, home-made tools; their poor wives 
struggled with the heavy emigrant chests; and the men shoul- 
dered their sacks of potatoes and grain, and brought their few 
cows and chickens on board. As Tank looked on their honest 
faces, pinched with poverty, and saw the heavy movements of 
their limbs, stiffened' by excessive labor, now about to carry them 
off to greater privations and toil, they appeared to him as way- 
ward children, sulkily denying themselves a gentle father 's care. 
How his heart yearned for these people ! How gladly would he 
have gathered them in his arms, like a. hen gathering her 
chickens under her wings, but they would not ! 

He could not follow his people. They had spurned his gifts, 
and to urge further kindness upon them would but confirm thetn 
in their suspicions. Their paths and his had no future crossing. 
Nor would he return and take possession of the ancestral hall in 
Norway. His complacent relatives, smugly intrenched in phar- 
isaic conventionalism, had with complacent pity seen him aban- 
don the honors and pleasures of a brilliant career to become a 
missionary to the slaves of South America. They would see lit- 
tle additional honor for him in being jilted by a lot of praying 
emigrants. Better a secluded life on the banks of the Fox, 
where there was time to medidate on the futilities of life.^ So 
there Tank remained until his death, with the exception of a 
few trips abroad for the education of his daughter Marian. 

Disappointed in philanthropy. Tank now turned to business, 
chief of which was his share with Morgan L. Martin and others 
in building the Fox-Wisconsin rivers improvement. In those 
days, before the railroad had become a recognized success, water 
transportation was the great economic problem, and canal routes 



*For the most of the narrative touching on Tank's colony at Green 
Bay, the writer is chiefly indebted to Rev. A. M. Iverson, of Sturgeon 
Bay, now deceased. 

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Nils Otto Tank 

were everywhere surveyed. Chief in importance seemed to be 
the Fox- Wisconsin route — the old highway of the Indian and 
the fur-trader. Millions of dollars were eventually spent on 
this enterprise, in the expectation of being reimbursed by State 
and federal lands; but the legislature refused to recognize the 
claims of the company, and Tank, with others, suffered heavy 
losses.^ 

In the midst of the protracted annoyances incidental to the 
settlement of the canal affairs, Tank took a sudden illness, and 
died in 1861. 

Very few men knew Mr. Tank. His antecedents, scholastic 
training, and experiences of life, all made him averse to confi- 
dential intercourse. On the other hand, his old neighbors at the 
mouth of the Fox have not yet forgotten their awe at his aris- 
tocratic bearing and perfect presence, which debarred them from 
treating him as an equal. With his scholastic training and ex- 
cellent library, he found more pleasure by his fireside than in 
the outside world. At the time of his death, he had written 
extensive memoirs, throwing much light on the political game 
at the Norwegian court of his youth, as well as explaining his 
connection with the Herrnhut colony of Green Bay. He also 
left essays of much importance on the topography and minerals 
of Surinam, with reference to the gold beds of that country. 
These writings were subsequently to be published; but his wife, 
harassed by business cares, deferred the matter. Later, she 
became so disspirited through being frequently victimized by 
confidence games and bogus claims of charity, that, fearing un- 
favorable publicity, she ordered all of her husband's letters and 
writings to be destroyed. 

By many, Tank's life was looked upon as a failure. Consid- 
ered as a tragedy of miscarried hopes, it was. As were the am- 
bitions of his father, the stem premier, so were the endeavors of 
his son, the scholastic pietist. But his failures were more' preg- 
nant with the elements of progress than are the successes of 
most men. 

•For the Fox River Improvement Company see History of Northern 
Wisconsin (Chicago, 1881), pp. 99, 100, and John Bell Sanborn, "Story 
of the Fox-Wisconsin Rivers Improvement," in Wis. Hist. Soc. PrO' 
ceedings, 1900. 

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His daughter and only child, a gifted young woman, died in 
1872. His wife passed away in 1891. Her will provided that 
the remaining property, amounting to about $100,000, be dis- 
tributed to different missions. The furnishings of the house, 
which were more like the contents of a museum of rare art than 
prosaic articles of housekeeping, were sold at auction, and the 
splendid collection of centuries was scattered for far less than 
its worth. The Kellogg Public Library at Green Bay is in pos- 
session of one of the chief pieces of furniture, a magnificent 
cabinet of unsurpassed workmanship, which eminent connois- 
seurs pronounce one of the finest examples of marquetry work 
in America.* 

The Tank Library, numbering some 5,000 volumes, largely 
of Dutch books, had in 1868 been presented to the Wisconsin 
Historical Society. Information gleaned from some of the old 
Dutch atlases in this collection, in 1899, helped to settle the 
boundary dispute between England and Venezuela; thus doing 
its part in averting a possible war with Great Britain. 



*Tlie Tank cottage is almost two hundred years old, being the first 
house In the Northwest built west of Fox River. It is now the oldest 
building in Wisconsin. It has been acquired by the city of Green 
Bay and moved to Union Park. 



[154] 




William Freeman Vilas 



William F. Vilas 



William Freeman Vilas 



By Burr W. Jones, M. A. 

For about forty years this Society has been honored by the 
membership of William Freeman Vilas, in whose memory I am 
asked to submit a brief sketch. He was bom in Chelsea, Orange 
County, Vermont, July 9, 1840. 

His father. Judge Levi B. Vilas, was also born in Vermont, 
and for forty years resided in that commonwealth, where' he was 
a lawyer of state-wdde reputation, and where he was long a mem- 
ber of the state assembly and for a time state senator. He was 
judge of probate, and once the choice of the Democratic party 
for United States senator. In 1837 he married Esther G. Smilie, 
a woman of rare' gentleness and worth. "William F., Henry, 
Levi M., Charles H., Edward P., and Esther were children born 
of this marriage, of whom only Charles and Edward now survive. 

In 1851 Judge Vilas selected Madison, Wisconsin, as his future 
home, being actuated largely by the belief that this city would 
afford a far better opportunity than his Vermont home for the 
education of his children. In Wisconsin he was for twelve years 
a regent of the State' University, was mayor of Madison, and 
during three terms member of the legislature. Before coming to 
Wisconsin, he had accumulated for those days a moderate for- 
tune, and only for a brief time re-entered the profession in 
which he had won high reputation in his native state. 

I cannot here dwell upon the boyhood of William F. Vilas. 
But I have been told by some of his comrades that, when he' was 
a lad, he was among the foremost in all the sports in which they 
engaged ; even as a boy he showed the energy and the maste'rful 
spirit, the zest for games and social enjoyment, which character- 
ized his whole life. In those days our State Unive'rsity was both 
a preparatory school and a college. For seven years he there 
pursued his studies and graduated at the age' of eighteen. He 
11 [ 155 ] 



Wisconsin Historical Society 

then for two years attended the Albany Law School, in New 
York, where he formed some of those friendships which endured 
for many years. Among others there, he came to know Col. 
John H. Knight, and between them continued a warm and life- 
long friendship. 

On his twentieth birthday, in the year 1860, he was admitted 
to the bar, and formed a law partnership at Madison with 
Eleazer Wakely, who is still living, and who was at one time 
chief justice of Nebraska. Mr. Vilas had, however, hardly en- 
tered upon the work of his profession when the stirring events 
of the War of Secession turned his thoughts to other things. 

His father had been a life-long Democrat, and although the 
young lawj'-er had espoused the principles of that party, like 
most of his associates in the Northern states he had no sympathy 
with the doctrines of secession. 

Before the outbreak of the war he had been captain of a local 
military company of zouaves. He was by no means lacking in 
military spirit, and, filled with enthusiasm for the Union cause, 
he quickly raised a company, being in 1862 commissioned as cap- 
tain in the Twenty-third regiment. Guided by his zeal and en- 
thusiasm, his company was the first fully organized in the 
regiment, and' he was entitled to be the' senior captain ; he at first 
declined this honor, suggesting that it be given to some older 
man, but his brother officers insisted that he should bear the 
honor he had earned. He was rapidly promoted, soon became 
lieutenant-colonel, and for some' time served in command of his 
regiment in the memorable hard-fought battles around Vicksburg 
and in its siege. 

Soon after the fall of Vicksburg, he was urged by his father, 
who was then engaged in serious litigation largely affecting his 
property interests, to return and to come to his aid. He ac- 
cordingly resigned his commission, much against his inclination, 
but never lost interest in the struggle and in the memorable cam- 
paigns in which the Army of the Tennessee engaged. He won 
distinguished honors in his military career and the enduring con- 
fidence and friendship of Generals Grant and Sherman, friend- 
ships which were shown in many ways and continued throughout 
the lives of those great generals. 

In the later years of his life, Colonel Vilas had no keener en- 
joyment than in reunions with his old comrades. They remem- 

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William F. Vilas 

bered his enthusiasm as a young officer, his zeal and care for 
their welfare ; and it was one of his many services for the State, 
that for some years before his death he had taken an active part 
in planning the Military Park at Vicksburg and in assisting in 
there erecting monuments to commemorate the valor of his fellow 
soldiers. 

On January 3, 1866, he married Anna M. Fox, daughter of 
Dr. William H. Fox, of Oregon, Wisconsin, who was as widely 
known and loved as any physician in Southern Wisconsin. 

Following this marriage, came forty-two years and more of 
congenial and happy married life, saddened, however, by the 
deep affliction of the loss of three of their children. Levi BakeT, 
a promising lad of seven, died' in 1877. On April 3, 1893, Cor- 
nelia, at the age of twenty-five, was taken away, leaving behind 
her the fondest memories of a sweet and beautiful young life. 
The final blow came to the stricken father and mother, in the 
loss of their son Henry in 1899. He had graduated at the State 
University and its Law School, had married in 1897, and around 
him had centred the brightest hopes of his stricken parents. 

It is doubtful if after this blow the fond father ever quite re- 
gained his old buoyancy of spirit; and as the evening of life 
came on, his solicitude and tenderness for his brave and faithful 
wife' and for his daughter, Mrs. Lucien M. Hanks, and his two 
little grandchildren, showed his deep anxiety and his fond hope 
that they might be spared to him. 

After his return from military service he entered upon the 
practice of the law, and until 1885 continued without interrup- 
tion in the profession he dearly loved. Although he was thor- 
oughly equipped in every way, and endowed with natural elo- 
quence and great attractiveness of manner, he never relied upon 
these gifts for success. With untiring industry, he in each case 
mastered every detail of fact and law, and' soon became one of 
the most successful and well known of the lawyers of this Com- 
monwealth. Before he was thirty years of age he had won a 
State reputation, and was fully a match for any of the gifted 
lawj'-ers of the capital city. 

He chiefly differed from his distinguished associates of the 
bar, in his wonderful versatility. He stood in the very front 
rank in his powers of persuasion and eloquence. He mastered 
the principles of the law; he' studied with delight the decisions 

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Wisconsin Historical Society 

of the great jurists; he was equally at home before a jury of 
farmers or the ablest judges upon the bench. He had a natural 
aptitude for business, and could master with facility the com- 
plications of accounts and commercial details. He was equally 
at home in defending one accused of murder, or in construing 
statutes, or in arguing abstract principles of law. If he had won 
distinction in no other fields, his reputation as a lawyer would 
have given him an enduring fame in the history of his State. 

It was natural that one of his temperament should take a 
deep interest in public affairs. Very early in his manhood he 
was in constant demand for those occasional addresses so often 
demanded of the eloquent lawyer. In every political campaign 
after his return from the war, until he became postmaster- gen- 
eral, aaid for years afterv\^ard, no citizen of the State was in 
greater demand as the advocate and defender of his party. 
Long before he entered upon public life, his fame as an orator 
had become national. By a single speech delivered in Chicago 
in 1879, at a banquet given in honor of General Grant by the 
Society of the Army of Tennessee, he placed himself among the 
most prominent orators of this country. 

When little more than thirty years of age, he was recognized 
as one of the leaders of his party in this State. He was sent 
as a delegate to the national conventions in 1876, 1880, 1884, 
1892, and 1896. Many times his party would' gladly have fol- 
lowed him as their leader, had he been willing to accept the 
nomination for governor ; but he early formed the resolution not 
to abandon his profession for politics. 

Governor Taylor tendered him the appointment as chief jus- 
tice of the supreme court of Wisconsin, as the successor of Chief 
Justice Dixon ; but even this honor, which strongly appealed to 
his professional ambition, was declined in order that he might 
hold to his cherished purposes. 

When thirty-five years of age he was appointed one of a com- 
mission of three to revise the Statutes of Wisconsin, and' for 
about three years, while carrying on his professional work, he 
labored with accustomed energy in the performance of this duty. 
It was a great undertaking, one that furnished additional proof 
of his industry and learning, and one that helped to prepare 
him for the still greater responsibilities yet to come. From the 
very beginning of the University Law School, in 1868, until 

[ 158 ] 



William F. Vilas 

1885, he served without interruption as one of its professors, 
bringing to the work all his power and enthusiasm. 

In the fall of 1884 he departed from his usual custom and 
accepted the nomination as a member of the assembly. During 
this session happened that memorable disasteT in which Science 
Hall of the' State University was burned to ashes. To 
the friends of the University it seemed an appalling catastrophe. 
The legislature was hard pressed from every quarter, for neces- 
sary appropriations. There were few who dared to hope that 
the building could be replaced for some years. But it was in 
such emergencies as this that the real mettle of Colonel Vilas 
was shown. With determined energy he undertook the task of 
restoring to the University its loss. As the climax of his efforts 
he made a memorable address to the legislature, one which, I 
think, he regarded as the best he ever made. There was no 
longer doubt of the result and the appropriation was made. The 
disaster, the remarkable plea of Colonel Vilas, and' the generous 
patriotism of the legislature, attracted wide comment in other 
states. 

It was during this session of the legislature that he was called 
to a public service of immense responsibility. His wide fame 
as an orator had led to his election as chairman of the National 
Democratic Convention in 1884. By his address on that occa- 
sion, in which with his usual powei* he outlined the policies of 
his party, he won the admiration of Mr. Cleveland. "When the 
latter selected his cabinet, he chose Mr. Vilas, then about forty- 
five years of age, as postmaster-general. With all his wide ex- 
perience in other fields, Mr. Vilas had had little experience in 
public life, and' all his efforts in public affairs had been in be- 
half of his friends. There had been no Democratic cabinet for 
twenty-five years. On the accession of the party so long in the 
minority, there came an eager struggle for the patronage and 
the offices of which Democrats had so long been deprived. Far 
more than any officer in the federal government, the postmaster- 
general was subjected to pressure for place. Mr. Vilas foresaw 
that he could not hope to satisfy the claims which would be 
made upon him, that he must disappoint and estrange many 
who had been his friends. While he met this trying responsibil- 
ity as well as possible, he conceived it to be still more important 
to bring about reforms in the postal service. 

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Wisconsin Historical Society 

Mr, Cleveland had known his power as an orator, his popu- 
larity with his party, and his fame as a lawyer, but he' had not 
realized his remarkable power as a man of affairs and business. 
His quick comprehension of all the complications of the postal 
system amazed the president and his brother membe'rs of the 
cabinet. It was no secret that very early the president learned 
to rely upon him, not only to carry the loads of the postal serv- 
ice but in the other great problems of administration. To those 
who knew Colonel Vilas it was early predicted that in this new 
field of labor he would win the admiration of his colleagues. 
But he did' far more than this. His reports showed such pro- 
found knowledge of all the needs of his department, that he won 
the support of senators and members of the opposing party, who 
soon found that although he did not neglect his duties in dis- 
pensing patronage he recognized that his paramount duty was 
to render efficient service to the government. 

During his service in this position, there was a memorable 
struggle in which he opposed a $400,000 subsidy to ocean 
steamers. A statute granting this amount had already been 
passed by the last Congress. Colonel Vilas pointed out the 
defects in the law, claiming that it was impossible of execution. 
The question came before the new Congress, and' there is no 
doubt but that his arguments were largely influential in leading 
many Republicans to vote against the bill and to cause its de- 
feat. He had entered into this contest well knowing the power 
and influence of the interests backing the proposed subsidies. 
During all his years of manhood he had fought the theory that 
the government should bestow favors upon special interests, and 
he always looked with great satisfaction upon this victory. 

During all this service as postmaster-general, Mr. Vilas de- 
lighted in the hearty co-operation of his companion and friend, 
Gen. Edwin E. Bryant, whom he loved as a brother and who 
had become assistant attorney-general in the post office depart- 
ment. For many years they had worked together as partners, 
and now they again worked as partners in the public service — 
often to the early hours of morning, paying little heed to the 
social life of Washington, laboring to bring order out of chaos 
in one of the great departments of the government. 

After several years of these labors, a remarkable tribute was 
paid by the president to the capacity and energy of his post- 

[ 160 ] 



William F. Vilas 

master-general. He called upon Colonel Vilas to place upon a 
similar footing another department of state, and appointed him 
secretary of the interior. He had already proved himself a 
great administrative officer; he was now called to a department 
calling for the same capacity, and also demanding a lawyer of 
the first rank. All the complicated legal questions involving many 
millions of dollars growing out of the tangled' system of stat- 
utes affecting land grants, were pressing upon the office. The 
Pension Bureau, the Patent Office, the Land Department, the 
Indian Service, all had their complications, and all called for 
the kind of ability and courage and' industry, that he was known 
to possess. In this new field of work it was his duty to render 
many judicial decisions, involving often new questions of law, 
the titles to vast tracts of land, the rights of settlers, and the 
rights of the Indian tribes. He found the work of his depart- 
ment several years behindhand; but on his retirement he had 
almost succeeded in clearing up the vast accumulation of work 
that he had found' awaiting him. 

Soon after he left his post, at the close of President Cleve- 
land's term, there' ensued other scenes of political activity. In 
the year 1890 came the State campaign upon new issues in Wis- 
consin politics. Mr. Vilas had greatly regretted the defeat of 
Mr. Cleveland for reelection in 1888, and he hoped for a re- 
versal in the next great campaign of the people 's former verdict. 
Having in mind present and future issues as well, he entered 
into the State campaign with his usual enthusiasm, and when 
success came to the Democratic party, and the legislature was 
able to elect a Democratic successor to Senator Spooner, there 
was no doubt on whom the choice would rest, or the fitness of 
the choice. When Colonel Vilas entered' the senate of the United 
States, he' was the peer of any of his great predecessors from 
Wisconsin. No one of them had been more learned or eloquent ; 
no one of them, at the time of taking the office, had had the 
stern training which comes from presiding at the head of two 
of the great departments of government. 

It was but natural that in Mr. Cleveland's second term he 
should lean upon one who had performed such herculean labors 
in his forme'r administration. There was at that time no 
stronger debater in the senate, than Colonel Vilas. There was 
no one who had kno^ni so intimately all the details of policy of 

[161] 



Wisconsin Historical Society 

Mr. Cleveland's former administration, which were often sub- 
jected to partisan criticism, Mr. Vilas soon became known as 
the defender and supporter of the administration in the senate. 
This subjected him of course to the embarrassment and the 
criticism necessarily incident to such a place. But disloyalty 
was a thing unknown to William F. Vilas. He bore the inevi- 
table criticism, and during the four years of Mr. Cleveland's 
second administration fearlessly fought the battles of his party 
and his chief. It was a period of embarrassment and trial, one 
in the midst of a great financial panic, in which whether justly 
or unjustly the administration and those connected with it were 
subjected to the fiercest attack. 

Time will not permit a detailed examination of the senatorial 
record of Mr. Vilas. It suffices to say that although he had 
only one senatorial term, there was no more conspicuous mem- 
ber of the senate within his party, and no one on whom the 
president leaned so much. There seems every reason to believe 
that, if his fortunes had been cast in early life with the domi- 
nant political party in his State, his eloquence, his learning, his 
marvelous capacity, his masterful spirit, would have made him 
for a long period of years a great leader in public life. 

In the year 1896 there came to the Democratic party one of 
those sudden changes which now and then greatly affect Ameri- 
can politics. Periods of great financial distress are almost cer- 
tain to bring to the front new theories of finance. No men in 
public life had labored more zealously to prevent the evils of a 
depreciated currency, than Grover Cleveland and William F. 
Vilas. They were by no means blind to the perils besetting any 
dominant party in times of financial distress, but they probably 
did not fully foresee the radical change of public sentiment that 
made possible the celebrated free silver campaign of 1896, 
When his party at Chicago committed itself to that view, Mr. 
Vilas, together with many who had been the chosen leaders of 
the party for many years, refused' to support the platform and 
the candidate. He bore a very prominent part in the National 
Democratic convention at Indianapolis which placed General 
Palmer in nomination for the presidency. In that convention 
he drafted much of the platform, as he' had borne a conspicuous 
part in the preparation of platforms in former national con- 
ventions. 

[ 162 ] 



William F. Vilas 

This revolution in the history of the Democratic party greatly 
affected the political fortunes of many of those who had long 
been its trusted leaders. Although most of the rank and file of 
the party followed their new leader and the new platform, and 
although there was often bitterness expressed because Colonel 
Vilas did not yield his convictions and support the new 
platform, no one doubted the sincerity of his motives. His 
friends well knew the sorrow and regret with which he parted 
from the comrades with whom for many years he had fought 
the battles of his party. This is no time for the discussion of 
the wisdom of his choice ; but it is undoubtedly the fact that the 
adoption of the free silver platform in 1896 greatly affected his 
public career, as it did that of most of those who had long been 
the leaders of the party. 

After returning from the senate, Mr. Vilas never actively re- 
entered the profession of the law. He continued to assist his 
party in its campaigns, whenever he could support its platforms, 
but gave comparatively little time to politics. 

It is one of the proofs of his wonderful versatility, that during 
all the years of legal practice, during all his strenuous life in 
"Washington, he had kept alive his enthusiastic love of the best 
literature, a passion dating back to his University days. Those 
who knew him intimately, well remember his remarkable famil- 
iarity with the great poets and the best prose writers of England 
and' America. On his retirement from public life, he found in 
his spacious, well-filled library, that solace and delight that only 
the lovers of good literature can ever know. 

It must not be inferred that the last ten years of his life were 
without other activities. He had always been successful as a 
practitioner and as b financier ; but the lawyer, however success- 
ful, seldom accumulates a fortune. Before he entered public 
life he had accumulated a fair competence, nothing more. He 
had received some inheritance from his father; but, as was well 
known to his friends, the great fortune of which the State of 
Wisconsin becomes the chief beneficiary, was made during the 
last ten years of his life. During that period, when he was 
neither bearing the cares of clients nor the burdens of public re- 
sponsibility, he was making investments in many field's, that 
brought him large returns. Although cautious and far-seeing, 
he was courageous, almost fearless, in his business plans. After 

[163] 



Wisconsin Historical Society 

thorough investigation in making his investments, he would in- 
cur an indebtedness that would have appalled him if, in younger 
days, it had been suggested by a client. 

Any sketch of the life of Colonel Vilas that failed to mention 
his love for the State University and his loyalty to his State, 
would be wholly inadequate. Much of his public service was 
rendered at a time when public men were too often lacking in a 
keen appreciation of the favorite maxim of Colonel Vilas's 
father, that "Public office is a public trust." Too many of his 
contemporaries in public life failed to realize that the power of 
place and patronage must not be used to serve private end's. 

So scrupulous was he in this regard, that he often refused to 
receive compensation for public service, even though to do so 
would have been within the strict letter of the law. While 
regent of the State University he several times refused to accept 
pay for laborious service in litigation for the State. While 
United States senator he gave his time lavishly, helping to save 
to the State hundreds of thousands of dollars in the treasury 
suits, but declined to receive the slightest compensation. In the 
last years of his life, when he talked freely with his friends of 
the scenes of his eventful life, it was plain that he looked on no 
part of that life with such satisfaction as that in which he had 
served' the State without hope of reward. 

For many years he gave freely of his time in serving as one 
of the Board of Regents of the State University., A considerable 
part of the last years of his life was spent in earnest toil as a 
member of the Capitol Commission, and it was his fond hope 
that its new eapitol building might be an edifice worthy of the 
great State he loved, and that the work might be completed 
without suspicion that the State had been defrauded of a cent. 

The first years of his young manhood were given to his coun- 
try, the very last days of his busy life were devoted to his State'. 
It was a fitting climax to his remarkable career of patriotic de- 
votion to the State, that he should bestow upon it by far the larg- 
est benefaction which any citizen has yet contributed. The State 
of Wisconsin is the chief legatee of his handsome fortune; but 
far more than that, it is the inheritor of the honor of a great 
citizen, whose talents and patriotism will shed lustre upon her 
name forever. 

MB 1 8. 6. 

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